Wednesday, February 21, 2007

The (Ash) Capital of the World

The rest of the Catholic world is always hard-pressed to outdo St Patrick's Cathedral in New York, but that's especially the case on this, its busiest day of the year.

In the heart of midtown Manhattan, the marquee church of US Catholicism welcomes an annual onslaught of ash-seekers estimated at about 50,000 in a daylong convergence that begins before dawn and stretches into tonight. The imposition of ashes is spread out across somewhere around a dozen liturgies; between them, ministers man stations to serve those only able to make a quick visit and the throngs who, seeing the city awash in black-crosses-on-foreheads, spontaneously drop in off the street.

Take that, S. Sabina.

SVILUPPO: Yesterday, the world learned his annual penance. Today, for the second year in a row, Jim Martin SJ's Ash Wednesday meditation was aired on NPR here in the States -- a Lenten plug for joy.PHOTO: AP/Kathy Willens

About Me

One of global Catholicism's most prominent chroniclers, Rocco Palmo has held court as the "Church Whisperer" since 2004, when the pages you're reading were launched with an audience of three, grown since by nothing but word of mouth, and kept alive throughout solely by means of reader support.

A former US correspondent for the London-based international Catholic weekly The Tablet, he's been a church analyst for The New York Times, Associated Press, Washington Post, Reuters, Los Angeles Times, BBC, NBC, CNN and NPR among other mainstream print and broadcast outlets worldwide.

A native of Philadelphia, Rocco Palmo attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. In 2010, he received a Doctorate of Humane Letters honoris causa from Aquinas Institute of Theology in St Louis.

In 2011, Palmo co-chaired the first Vatican conference on social media, convened by the Pontifical Councils for Culture and Social Communications. By appointment of Archbishop Charles Chaput OFM Cap., he's likewise served on the first-ever Pastoral Council of the Archdiocese, whose Church remains his home.